2023-09-15 15:30:10
The crisis within Spanish football escalated on Friday, with almost all of the world champions demanding that more heads roll at the federation, the same day when its ex-boss Luis Rubiales was banned from approaching Jenni Hermoso, the player he forcibly kissed at the World Cup.
“The changes that have taken place are not enough,” wrote 21 of the 23 world champions in a press release in a text distributed in particular by the double Ballon d’Or, Alexia Putellas, on social networks.
“We need radical changes in the management positions” of the Spanish federation (RFEF), still in the hands of men appointed by Rubiales, they insist in this text, signed in total by 39 players and published at the very moment when the new coach Montse Tomé was to present her list of players for the matches on September 22 and 26 once morest Sweden and Switzerland in the Nations League.
In this context, the Montse Tomé press conference, scheduled for the followingnoon, was postponed to a “schedule to be confirmed”, indicated the federation.
The Spanish players therefore condition their return to the selection on the “resignation of the interim president” Pedro Rocha, on the “restructuring of the organization chart of women’s football” or even on that of the “cabinet of the presidency and the general secretariat” of the instance.
The announcement had the effect of a bombshell while in recent days, the federation had been optimistic regarding the return of the world champions, highlighting the dismissal of the coach of the women’s team, Jorge Vilda, whose the methods were contested, and especially the resignation on Sunday of Luis Rubiales from the presidency of the federation.
Rubiales before the judge
The former boss of Spanish football responded on Friday for the first time before a judge to the accusations of “sexual assault” brought once morest him for his forced kiss to N.10 Jennifer Hermoso following the world coronation of “Roja” on August 20 in Sydney, which triggered a wave of international indignation.
At the end of the hearing, which was held behind closed doors, the magistrate in charge of the investigation, Francisco de Jorge, prohibited Luis Rubiales from coming within 200 m of Jenni Hermoso and get in touch with the attacker, who plays in the Mexican championship.
Dressed in a navy blue suit, the former president of the federation, 46, presented himself at the end of the morning at the Madrid court of the National Audience without making any statements to the dozens of journalists present.
According to a source close to the prosecution, he once more denied the accusations before the judge and reiterated that this kiss was consensual. In an interview given to a British journalist and broadcast on Tuesday, he had already described “a reciprocal act”.
It was “nothing other than a moment of happiness, a great joy”, he continued, denying any act with “sexual connotation”: “my intentions were noble, 100% non-sexual, 100%, I repeat 100%.
A version contested by Jenni Hermoso, 33, who said she felt “victim (…) of an impulsive and sexist act, inappropriate and without any consent”, and who filed a complaint.
No decision immediately
The player’s lawyer Carla Vall repeated in court on Friday that this “kiss was not consensual” and welcomed the fact that, “thanks to this video, everyone, the whole country, was able to see that there was no consent in any way.”
The magistrate in charge of the case will have to decide at the end of his investigation whether or not to refer Rubiales to justice. As its investigation has just begun, no decision is expected in the short term.
Since a recent reform of the Spanish Penal Code, a non-consensual kiss can be considered sexual assault, a criminal category bringing together all types of sexual violence. According to a spokeswoman for the prosecution, the penalties faced by Rubiales, 46, range from a fine to four years in prison.
Justice also upheld an offense of coercion, also denied by Rubiales, because, according to the prosecution, “Jenni Hermoso explained that she had been, with her entourage, the victim of constant pressure from Mr. Rubiales and his entourage professional so that it justifies and approves the facts.
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